


Lost and Found

by AlmightyBubs



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Adventure, Badly written lightsaber duels, Clone Wars, Fights I guess, Gen, Irresponsible Jedi, No Romance, Pretty much no canon characters, Sass, oc fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23007532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmightyBubs/pseuds/AlmightyBubs
Summary: Rune Haskell, a padawan, crosses paths with a dangerous girl in a city dominated by a new Sith threat. Only problem is, he was never supposed to be there in the first place.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Lost and Found

I knew I was in the middle of a very bad idea, but unfortunately, those were my favorite kind. That and, well, it wasn't like Master Pangshi wouldn't thank me later.

There was a certain art behind disappointing the Master, one that went beyond just saying the right things or failing at the most basic tasks, which is to say, you had to be me - it was an art that _I_ had mastered along the years. So naturally, when Pangshi needed me most at the Coruscant Jedi Temple, I'd found myself deep into the bowels of Kamdon, a nowhere planet in who knows where. For a good reason, of course, but if the old man knew about it, he'd probably make me eat my own lightsabers without any sauce or filling to help it all slide down better. But I digress.

I left my personal starfighter not far away from the small city of Perik, just enough that it wouldn’t take more than an hour by speeder and raiders weren’t likely to find it, but those were later worries for a later me. For now, I'd focus on the task at hand.

Perik wasn’t really _small_ by any means, but living in Coruscant forever warped my perception of a city’s size. The tall buildings clustered together formed an urban circle around the ocean of jungle that surrounded it with several ring-shaped streets built higher the closer they were to the circle’s center to match the ascending heights of the buildings that rose between them. In the middle, a towering pin-shaped skyscraper was draped in the shadows of a gray-blue separatist frigate hovering above it, half as wide as the city itself. 

It belonged to none other than Darth Kalasi, and I just so happened to need something from her.

From the border just beyond its walls, the sight of the ship prompted another tight squeeze in my chest. Was it a warning, an omen, or both? If the sheer scale wasn’t foreboding enough, the small speeders zooming up and down from the city proved to be.

I didn’t hood myself, but I did slide both of my lightsabers further down my belt, behind each flap of my brown trench coat, still within my reach but hidden from curious eyes. I just hoped the light armor I wore was inconspicuous enough, judging by the fact that preparing for unseen danger seemed like common etiquette in this forsaken planet.

Here, in the nooks and crannies between the maze of buildings, the separatist frigate turned sunlight into an exception. Their soldiers, members of a special militia, marched through the streets in silence in their dark armor with blasters pointing ahead, reducing bystanders to mere shadows and lurking figures, eyes peering from behind rust-covered doorways and hushed whispers that always seemed to end just as they drew near.

The thought of actually living somewhere like this, in hiding and fear, made my stomach churn. The sooner I left, the better.

Getting past the initial blockades wasn’t hard once the gaps of surveillance became clear. Every few minutes, there’d be an interval without any soldiers, just long enough to dash through the streets and jump onto the first rooftop on the other side, a simple one-floor residential building that in a far away time may have been white, but now was a bleary gray. Here on out, the path was clearer - if I kept progressing from building to building, higher and higher, I’d eventually get onto the first ring of the city’s elite, which were probably about the same level as the upper dregs of Coruscant, brothels, casinos, and other cheap entertainment centers. The distant flashing neon lights and bar outdoors advertising all from dancers to cheap liquor didn’t do much to dissuade that presumption. 

A few close calls with a few daring low-flying speeders later and I’d stepped onto the first walkway, a simple ring over the city’s lower buildings that catered its services to pirates, bounty hunters, and whatever else was the lowest of the low. Here, at least, the only thing that stood out about my appearance was an uncovered face, the lack of dirt, and a nowhere-to-be-seen blaster.

Helmets and hooded faces turned to stare as I left the alleyway I'd entered from below, some lone wolves, others in matching militia uniforms, marked by the red line scarred across their shoulderguards. Darth Kalasi’s rule over the city was worse than I'd thought if men like that paraded around unrivaled with their own sense of authority.

I set my sights on the bar ahead and casually walked towards it with my hands on my pockets, but before I could reach it, a quick shadow suddenly dashed past me, latching onto my hand while several thin metallic objects clinked to the floor behind it. It had its other cloaked arm around my throat as it pulled me deep into the alleyway just in time for four armed figures to enter the scene. The same four soldiers I'd seen earlier burst into the alleyway all at once, each holding a heavy blaster pointed at my face as they approached.

The shower of adrenaline only came when the warm grasp on my neck turned into the thin, cold edge of silver. 

"One more step, you'll all need a good shower." Came a girl's voice behind me, about my age and just serious enough that she might have actually meant it. 

"Enough running, runt.” The soldier further in front shot back, stepping closer without ever shifting away from the two of us the barrel of his large machine gun. “Give it back, leave town, and we might just forget you exist.”

Before answering, the girl holding me slowly let go of my arm to instead grasp my shoulder. As she did, I noticed four little buttons on her palm lined on the basis of each finger, three glowing white, one black. “Because you should know my suit has a dead man’s switch!” She replied gleefully, tightening her grip on me as I winced. “If my vitals drop to zero, you can bet your perfect little dimples it’ll broadcast those files to _every. Single. Frequency_ it can find. Also, because you’d have to shoot through this innocent schmuck first.” She snorted, lightly patting my shoulder. This time, the black button had a growing slice of white.

“Do I have a say in this?” I tried, mustering my best confident smirk to mild results - if anything, any hesitance the lead soldier showed before was now tinged by temptation. To be fair, I didn’t have the best audience. “Cause y’know, the schmuck has a name. And a family.” I quickly added, a lie of course. Since one of my hands was free now, I could actually try something, deal with my problems one at a time. As their gazes shifted to me, I slowly lifted two fingers towards the lead soldier and prayed that the Force would answer this time, for once. The trace of energy was there, linking me to him like a buzz orbiting a thread of atoms, but pulling it off was easier said than done, and speaking of said, “You don’t _want_ to leave them waiting for me, so you’ll let us go, right?” The pressure on my fingers slowly built. 

The soldier’s brow furrowed as he squinted and lost any semblance of focus. “I…” 

In turn, I swallowed. If I could just hold this up for one more-- my hand suddenly gave in and fell limp, aching with fatigue. 

The sharpness in his eyes returned, directed at me. “Well, no. That doesn’t change my opinion at all.” The corners of his smile dug into his cheeks. He _did_ have some nice dimples.

My captor lifted her hand from my shoulder once more. All buttons shone white.

“Open fire!”

Her hand slammed all four buttons into my shoulder at the same time as each soldier cocked their rifles. Before they could press the trigger though, the metallic objects the girl had dropped before hissed as they flew back towards us. Each one pierced the back of a different soldier and poked its metal tip out of their chests, turning their eyes static and their lips stuck in the middle of an unsuccessful attempt to shout. No words came to their aid as they dropped to the floor.

The volume of chills that descended over my body made me think I’d been holding them in all along. Before they could pass, I elbowed the girl’s stomach and dropped for a roll below her blade, though she pulled back my leg before I could and turned it into a poorly aimed dive. My head connected to the dirty floor and new regrets were born.

“I was about to let you go, but now I’m having second thoughts.” The girl sneered as I flipped my body to look at her. She wore a black and brown helmet that looked like a mask/visor hybrid and covered the upper half of her face, leaving room for her shoulder-length messy dark blue hair to flow beside it. The few I could see of her skin - her wrists and lower face around the black lipstick on her lips - was blood red, so probably a Zeltron or Devaronian something else I knew next to nothing about. For one, it looked more vibrant than my regular dark brown human skin. Her vest matched the colors of her headgear and was lined with even more thin silver knives in the shape of an X. 

“Well, I can say for certain that killing me is a bad idea.” I smirked, standing to cross my arms before her. “For one…” I quickly pulled one of my lightsabers out of my belt and ignited it, bathing our gloomy alleyway in its blue hue. 

Before it was even done, the Zeltron girl had already matched my admittedly less-than-subtle threat with a blaster pointed to my face and a small knife between two fingers beneath it. “The hell is a Jedi doing here? Haven’t seen any since Darth Kalasi decided she owned the city.” While her posture was perfect, at least I could feel a sense of tension in her voice. Hopefully it meant I’d spooked her. “So, are you crazy or just suicidal? ‘Cause no offense, but you don’t look like a master or anything. How old are you, even? Sixteen?”

“ _Eighteen_ , not that it matters or anything, since I work for the Republic.” I scoffed, “Just here for a quick trip, doesn’t matter. I’ll even let you go, since you were nice enough not to kill me.” 

“Wait. Did you come here after Kalasi or not?”

“Maybe I did. Doesn’t seem like she likes you very much, either way.” I replied, glancing at the dead soldiers. In truth, I was hoping with all of my heart that I'd have some backup on taking her on. Lord knew I was struggling to keep all thoughts to myself as it were.

“Then we might just become friends, Jedi." She smiled, stashing her knife back to offer me her gloved hand, even though her blaster remained in position aimed at me. "Maya Vang."

Either way, I shook it. "Rune. Just Rune for now." 

"Ooh, mysterious." She mocked, "Follow me to my place? It’s just up this alley. I don't really have a speeder for security reasons."

I nodded, but kept my stance. "Lead the way." 

I withdrew my lightsaber as she turned away from me, towards the other wall of the alley, and then jumped into the air as the soles of her heavy boots ignited with flames. Her flight lasted just long enough for her to reach the next level of the walkways a few dozen meters above.

I, on the other hand, had to resort to using the walls for support as I jumped a few meters at a time, grasping onto loose roots and misaligned bricks on my way up. At the top, she pulled me up by my hands.

We were in a backyard the size of a cubicle, with an open doorway leading into a dingy building just slightly better than the ones on the lower level. "Make yourself at home." She said as we made our way in. Between us and the other doors leading out to the street was an empty bar, not just devoid of customers but also of any real life. If she told me no one had been there in years, I'd believe her. The dark red walls were peeling off, the metallic floor stained and rusty, even the counter was falling to pieces. 

She must've noticed my disdain, because she looked at me as if I'd just puked my whole stomach out. "Charming, I know, but I tend to abide by a simple rule - no rent, no questions."

"So you just moved into a decrepit, abandoned building?" I hesitantly asked, hands itching for the weight of my lightsabers. Why the hell did I follow a stranger into their house? One who'd killed four people so casually?

"Who are you, my Dad? Let's just go over whatever we're doing and in the end I'll decide if you have to pay me or not."

"I'm infiltrating Kalasi's frigate. I need something she has on her private vault."

"You might just be in luck. That's kind of my specialty."

"Breaking into ships?"

"Breaking into _Kalasi's_ ship." She flashed a warm smirk, crossing her arms as she sat onto the table, "Why do you think those guys were chasing me? They recognized me carrying something she'd lost. I've already done it three times - once for fun, another because a guy said I couldn't, and now _this._ " She pulled out a comms disc from her pocket.

“What’s in it?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She smiled devilishly, “It’s some political banthacrap. Doesn’t matter, as long as the Republic is willing to pay a pretty penny for it.” 

“Is it about the Separatists? This could be important!”

She shot me a dirty look. "Leave politics to the old people, what do you want to do?"

"Well… I’m looking for a Holocron.” I scratched the back of my head, “I'll know it when I see it."

"The hell is a Holocron?"

“It’s a Jedi thing. They look like little glowing cubes, or something like that. Have you seen any there?”

She tapped her lips with a finger, “I seem to recall one of those sitting in her collection. Why do you want it so bad?”

I sighed. “Because she stole it from a Jedi. I need it back.”

“So we’ll go get it, and then you’ll kill Kalasi.” She nodded.

“What? No!” I quickly shot back, “I’m not _crazy_.”

“What are you talking about? You’re a Jedi! Taking care of these Sith psychos is literally your job!”

“Listen, even if I _was_ strong enough to face a literal Sith lady, this is Darth Kalasi. How many Jedis has she beaten by now? I’m not going to risk it for some tiny city filled to the brim with criminals.”

“So you’re just going to leave us here, living under her thumb?”

“If you want, I can give you a ride off this planet when we’re done! You could make a life for yourself in Coruscant, or Nar Shaddaa, or wherever it is you dream of going to.”

“I won’t run away!” She barked, “This is my home, _Jedi_ , and I’ve been doing everything I can to keep it from falling apart.” If the word sounded sweet before, now she spat it like a swear. “So you have two choices now. Either you come with me and we beat Kalasi together, or you run far away and pray that I won’t remember you once I’ve taken her place.”

Common reaction, I’d say. People like Maya were common across Separatist regions, regular citizens driven to the point of rebellion by the new big guy in town. Even though her mask hid her eyes, I could tell the blood surging them would blind her to anything short of a call to arms. 

“How about a deal?” I shrugged, “If you help me onto Darth Kalasi’s ship and everything goes our way, I’ll come back with my friends from the Jedi temple, even Master Pang--”

“No, you coward!” She cut in, slamming the bar counter with her fist, “What makes you think I believe you? I know what kind of person you are, _Rune_ . I know you’ll do your damn hardest to forget Kamdon as soon as I let you go.” She bit her lip, “ _If_ I let you go.”

I cocked an eyebrow and gripped one of my lightsabers, making sure she could see it on my waist. “Is that a threat?” 

“It’s the truth.” She replied. Though her stance didn’t shift at all, two knives had suddenly appeared between her fingers.

What was I doing? Here for less than a day on a planet I barely knew and I was already at the point of death threats with the one person I could maybe see as an ally. If anything, a bad start. I released the lightsaber with a sigh.

“I’ll help you to the best of my ability. Fine.” As far as she was concerned, it was the truth. She didn’t need to know the rest - that I still planned on carrying out things my way and coming back with reinforcements later. As long as both of us got out - and I got what I came for - Kalasi could wait.

“Good.” She said, this time devoid of the mischievousness she’d shown at first. Maybe I’d struck a sore thumb. Her hands gripped the sides of her helmet before pulling it over her head, letting her short hair create a fringe over her forehead. All in all, the roundness completed by the rest of her face made her look gentler than I’d expected. For the first time I stared into her black eyes, and there I found nothing but cold determination. “Now let’s go find our code breaker.”

* * *

It wasn't hard to, in the end. We found the code breaker in the third ring, in a bar that turned out to be classier than I imagined, all things considered. Unlike Maya's… _home_ , the air wasn't stuffy, the floor wasn't cracked and coated in dust, and the people weren't dregs, at least not at first glance. At least one of these people was savvy enough to crack separatist codes. But for once, there were people, actual people - friends, lovers, and smiling faces instead of the silent fear I'd seen on the lower rings.

Multi-armed droids did most of the serving behind the counter located at the corner of the room, and rather than dance or ogle exotic dancers, its patrons mostly just sat on the tables that filled the rest, deep in either conversation, booze, or food.

"Alright, who is it?" I asked, trying to eyeball which of the happy citizens looked most like a criminal hacker. My best guess was the skinny Zabrak playing cards with a few others. His resigned eyes grazed mine for a split second before returning to his hand.

"J2 over there." She whispered, nodding towards the counter.

"Jaytu?" I asked, squinting at the people around us as we moved.

"No," She leaned her back against the counter and tapped one of the server droids with her head. "J2S8."

"Again, Maya?" The droid asked in its robotic, emotionless tone, with shifts of intonation and inflection with each syllable. In its hands, it cleaned three cups at once.

"This'll be the last. I promise. I'll pay whatever it is you need to leave and then we'll both be free from each other."

"May the creator hear you." 

How the hell could she trust a random bar droid? She called it a codebreaker, I’d call it a death sentence. I’d heard enough of secret kill switches being activated, of droids betraying their owners through glitches or malicious programming, "I didn't know you meant a _droid_." I whispered to Maya.

"Do you have something against me?" J2 swiveled its head in my direction.

"No, no!” I stammered, blood rushing to my cheeks, ”I mean, some of my best friends are droids. I-- well,"

"Kidding. Ha-Ha." J2 interjected. “The look on your face was to die for.”

Seems like a droid will just happen to be missing both of its legs when they find him in the dumpster tomorrow.

Maya kept her lips in a straight, humorless line. "This is Rune. He'll accompany me up there this time."

The droid held its gaze on me for an additional second before nodding. “My shift will end in seven minutes, after which I will be replaced. Please find a seat before then so we can properly discuss this…” One of its eyes - if you could call them that, I didn’t even know if he actually used them to see - closed and then opened again, like a child trying to wink for the first time. “...Arrangement.” 

“Alright, thanks.” Maya said, already pulling me towards a booth on the corner opposite him, where we’d likely be discreet enough that the other people there couldn’t snoop without coming closer.

“Can I order something?” I asked as we sat facing each other.

“You want to get drunk before we face off against a murderous psycho?”

To be honest, I was tempted. On official missions, accompanied by Master Pangshi or other similarly stuck-up goody-two-shoes Jedi, any attempts to order something fun were met with disapproving good looks at best. I mean, I get it, missions and all, but nobody ever said fun was outlawed. “Cool it, I’m just a little thirsty.”

“Right.” She sighed, not having bought the excuse, “You ever faced someone like Kalasi before?”

“A Sith? No, no.” My eyes dodged hers, “The big guys take care of those. Master Yoda, Windu, Kenobi, y’know. You’ve probably heard of them. My missions are usually the boring stuff, diplomacy, escort, that kind of thing.”

“So they don’t trust you.” She cocked a grin, “And I still can’t tell if that was smart. I _did_ manage to hold you hostage with surprising ease, all things considered. Maybe you’re just weak.” She shrugged.

“Shut up. I could’ve easily escaped, which I _did_ right after you offed those goons.” 

My comlink suddenly beeped with a message. Against my wishes, and despite my unsuccessful fumbling after the damn thing, Master Pangshi’s voice was broadcast into the room. “Rune? Where the _hell_ did you run off to this time? You better not be on some backwater planet in the middle of one of your--”

“Found it!” I cried, as I finally turned off the small device inside one of my pockets.

“Well then,” Maya grinned, “Disobeying orders, are we? I think my rates just went up.”

“We’ll figure that out later. I’ve got money on me.” 

I didn’t, but hey.

“Fine by me.” She shrugged, “Do you have everything you need on you?”

Since my mental check of my items consisted of just a pair of lightsabers and other assorted devices I’d taken from the Jedi temple, I didn’t bother with one. “Yeah.” Though we’d moved past it, that knot within my chest didn’t budge. The way she looked at me might’ve pulled it even tighter. “And I’m not weak. We’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

Suffice to say that, amid the cloud of awkwardness left by my last affirmation and what felt like a growing rift between us, we spent the rest of those minutes in an uncomfortable silence where Maya always looked as though she was on the verge of saying something, and I guess to her I probably came off the same.

When J2 approached us, it’d be a lie to say I wasn’t relieved.

“Is this your first operation, Rune?” It asked as it sat beside Maya.

“No. I’m a Jedi.” I smiled, making sure it was just simple enough that it looked ordinary as I stared at Maya. “I’m used to danger.”

“Interesting. Then I assume, with a Jedi in tow, we are targeting Kalasi herself this time?”

“Don’t _shout it_ for the whole bar, scraphead.” Maya hushed, “But yeah, that’s the plan. Rune wants something from her collection too. A hologram.”

“Holocron.” I corrected her.

“Holothing, yeah.”

“Then I shall commence plotting us a route.” His visor projected a map over our table, the schematics of what I assumed was Kalasi’s separatist frigate. 

“Woah, where did you get this?” I asked as I leaned closer to inspect it in detail. More organized than I would’ve imagined for a Sith lord.

“J2 took it from the ship registry on our first go. Pretty cool, I know.” Maya boasted, running a hand through her hair, “This is what I’m thinking. We go in through the usual, the ventilation system underneath the cargo bay.” She pointed to a section on the first floor, where a maze of tunnels ran underneath said bay. “Her personal collection is over here on the other side, closer to--”

Before she could finish, a scream rang out on the other side of the bar, closer to the main door, followed by more abrupt yelps and sudden whispers as the doors opened and a small group strode in.

At its front, Darth Kalasi. She was tall with light yellow skin, glistening long black hair shaved at the sides and compact black armor from the neck down complete with a cape. I never understood how siths could walk around like that all day without feeling hot. She kept her hands behind her back as she stared down the bar’s inhabitants. 

By her side was a man wearing a heavier version of the armor we’d seen in her personal soldiers - the same one worn by the man and woman behind them - though his face was uncovered. It was chiseled, muscular, and topped with short golden brown hair, though there was nothing pleasant about the clear bloodlust in his eyes and thin lips. They’d come here with a purpose. Maybe we were part of it.

“So you don’t say I’m a ruthless queen, I’ll give all of you five seconds to leave the room.” Darth Kalasi said, mimicking Dooku’s stern tone and expression, “Which have already started. Get out.”

The ensuing reaction was a stampede. Everyone in the bar dashed towards the exit at once, the three of us included, and were now forcing themselves through the small doorway without any regard for its size, for those around them, or for all the food and drinks left behind. The sabacc game I’d seen the Zabrak at earlier was now seated only by ghosts.

Kalasi pushed past a group and faced the three of us. “You stay.” She thrust her hand forward and we were sent flying back - my shoulders collided with the wall on the other wall, while Maya crashed onto a table and J2 simply slid back as if its feet were attached to the floor.

Pain spread across my back like fire as I groaned and tried to stabilize my vision. By the time I did, there were only six in the room. Us, and them.

“Thank God for loyal citizens,” Kalasi chuckled, slowly approaching, “Otherwise I might have never heard you frequented this establishment, thief. Unfortunately for you, Perik doesn’t have many Zeltrons. The bounty we set on your head after you escaped my men was claimed _minutes_ after you entered this--”

“I didn’t escape.” Maya cut in, clutching her stomach as she stood between us and Kalasi, “I killed them. Just like I’ll kill you.“ 

Kalasi’s eyebrows perked up as her lips stretched into a coy smile and she crossed her arms. “I didn’t think I’d get _terrorists_ this soon. Go on, how do you plan to kill me?”

Maya quickly pulled a knife in each hand from underneath her cloak and threw both of them forward, one at the Sith and the other at the man beside her. Kalasi responded without blinking or flinching, igniting her red lightsaber in the perfect angle to turn two knives into four searing halves, which clinked against the floor.

Maya’s quick breaths and my own heart thudding against my chest were the only sounds I heard as Kalasi leered at us, holding her saber at her waist. When I saw the first hint of movement in her posture, my insides dropped a thousand degrees. I could practically see her saber striking forwards, slicing through Maya’s body and cutting her breaths short with a single move - and that would be all. I’d never actually seen someone die before today, despite all my time of training and missions, and now I’d lose the only person I actually trusted here.

But at the moment, the red blade still hung up above her body.

I don’t know whether to attribute it to stupidity or some innate suicidal spark, but I was up on my feet with one my hilts in hand before Kalasi could swing it down. I cut through the distance between us as the force blurred my surroundings yet made every other sense sharper. Once I’d reached Maya, I thrust my hand ahead of her and ignited the lightsaber just in time to stop Darth Kalasi’s blade before her face.

As red and blue fizzed against each other, my eyes connected to Kalasi’s, which were lined underneath with the same black paint that coated her lips. They were ever so slightly wider than before, but any pride I could take in her surprise was destroyed by the way her smile grew.

“Go,” I muttered to Maya through gritted teeth, my entire body rattling like a turbulent ship. To my relief, I heard her shuffle back.

“I didn’t expect a Jedi!” Kalasi grinned, “Does this mean you’ve heard of me? Am I _notorious_ in your circles?”

There wasn’t much doubt in me that I wouldn’t answer. Amid the lingering back pain, my waning hold, and my growing risk of death, I didn’t find the strength to think of something that wouldn’t sound pathetic from the boy who was trying very hard not to look how he actually felt - scared shitless. The only thing going through my mind was the fact that I wouldn’t hold another thirty seconds, and by sheer miracle, my training and muscle memory came to me crystal clear.

I released one of my hands from the lightsaber, retrieved the one left on my belt, and then swung the blade at her side before it’d even fully extended, but she was quick to meet my attempt with her own hand, pushing against it with the force. On both sides, we’d been locked at a standstill.

“Men!” She called with excitement before throwing a quick glance at the blond man, “Lin. Open fire on the other two!”

"Run!" I shouted, unable to drive my gaze away from Kalasi as if the simple act of blinking would mean the difference between life and death, but from the corner of my eye, I could spot both Maya and J2 sliding over the bar counter, the former a tad more elegant than the latter, to hide on the other side just as the blasters began firing.

Hoping for their success, I used the impulse from Kalasi's efforts to overpower me to jump back and shift into a proper fighting stance, but I felt like the sweat on my face would probably detract from my attempts at intimidation.

In response, she strode towards me like an old friend. I could hear Maya struggle behind the counter being fired upon, surfacing from her crouched position every few seconds to lob another knife at the attackers, but every second I spent thinking about her predicament was one where I ignored mine.

As if to justify that thought, Kalasi slashed at me. I was barely fast enough to block it with both sabers - anything less and I felt like she’d drain my strength like a vampire - before she reeled back and tried again on the other side, to the same results. Every time our sabers clashed against each other, her next movement would come quicker and I’d be forced to retreat another step. Though my connection to the Force was weaker than most Jedi, I could still feel it in the air around me, in every lifeform, but she warped it into something I didn’t recognize, as much shield as it was sword. 

There was an unpredictable energy to the way she moved like a hurricane, but made every move look like the obvious logical choice. With nothing more than a smile on her face and a single lightsaber, she blocked my advances while leaving little to no room for me to strike.

As our fight became a dance, that smile was what unsettled me most. Did she think we were playing with toy swords, not lethal weapons? Her swings were abrupt, but they were also controlled, and I could tell she was holding back, taking joy in every twitch that plagued my face, every misstep. Maybe she wasn’t a child. Maybe she was a nexu playing with its food.

A cold spike grew inside my chest as my back finally hit the wall. There was nowhere left to run. If the omen of the end brought me dread, it instead fed the malice in her grin.

But a flicker of surprise flashed across her gaze. She flipped her body around faster than I could gasp, only to cut through a fast trio of knives thrown by Maya behind the counter. When she turned back, I’d already raised my foot and forced its sole against her stomach, sending her back across the room even though her feet remained on the ground.

One of the guards turned his blaster to me, the one with blond hair and the scar, but before he could fire, Kalasi raised a fist in front of him as her smile became a scowl. “Don’t.” She seethed, “I want to defeat him on my own. Dooku will be proud.”

“Why didn’t you kill her?!” Maya shouted from behind the counter, still under fire, though J2 was running out of objects to throw.

“I don’t really...” I swallowed, unable to get my eyes away from Kalasi out of fear she’d use any break to strike, “Kill.”

Kalasi scoffed, “Your perspective might’ve been different if you were put in my place, rather than live your entire privileged life in the comfort of the Jedi temple. You say you don’t kill? Not everyone gets the chance to say no.”

She used my disturbed focus to dash with a jab at my throat that I only managed to push out of the way out of sheer luck, and not missing a single beat, she’d Force pushed my other lightsaber to the floor before I could even think where to strike her. Just as I was starting to forget her hungry look, she bashed her forehead against mine and turned my vision into stars and my head into a rock. Without any sense of balance, I staggered and fell backwards to the floor.

“Net him.” Kalasi sighed above me, returned her lightsaber to her hip, and then took both of mine now-unlit ones into her hands with a vague motion “I want him in for questioning.”

The cold pit inside my stomach grew tenfold as my chin began to tremble. I’d ran away during my Master’s birthday for something this stupid, without even saying goodbye, and now I’d die far far away from everyone I knew, to someone who’d enjoy every second of my suffering.

Something cold fell over me and covered my vision, and if Kalasi’s words hadn’t given it away, then the grid pattern had. An electric net, judging from the thin wires running along the metallic thread. 

Away from my numbing, spiraling thoughts, Maya whispered something to J2, and he delivered responses which didn’t seem to make her happy, judging by how fast she continued to shoot back.

Kalasi brought a finger to her chin, “Cease fire.” All at once, the sounds of the room vanish. Save for one.

“--I don’t care! Cast it in every frequency you can--!” Maya whispered, though her pleas now reached everyone else too.

“What do you have there?” Kalasi asked, following it with footsteps.

I closed my eyes and begged for any help at all, begged the force even, but no relief came to my frantic heartbeats. Slowly, with only my remaining senses, I tried to map out the room in my head. I could feel Kalasi facing the bar counter, all three remaining soldiers behind her. Maya had her hands around something round, a disc maybe? Oh. _The_ comms disc. Goddamn it. It’d all been for nothing. 

Maya tried to shuffle a pair of knives into her hands, but Kalasi raised hers before she could and did… something that blurred my whole image like a pond disturbed by a falling rock, only the center of the distortion was herself.

All I knew was Maya’s body was no longer there.

Then the sound of muffled choking followed, and the final puzzle piece fell in its place with another bitter reveal.

“Take it, Lin.” Kalasi said nonchalantly as Maya struggled.

A tug, and then the sound of a body falling to the floor. Then coughing, too - she was still alive. Though some of the pressure plaguing my chest blew away, Kalasi’s voice was still the five-ton weight on top.

I could feel the small disc on the blond grunt’s hand, almost tangible, so close I could practically feel it in my hands. If she got hold of it, then it’d all be truly over. But it wasn’t yet. I raised my hand and pulled with all I could.

The disc was less than a meter away from me before it stopped midair. Kalasi’s distortion had come back in full strength, covering the disc with so much energy that trying to grasp it would be like trying to pull an entire ship toward me. And yet it smoothly skidded to her hand.

“What’s this? Is this what you stole?” She snorted before activating it. I heard a hologram flicking to life. "Greetings, my apprentice." A gravely, older voice spoke. From recordings, I knew it belonged to Count Dooku, and it didn’t comfort me one bit. "I’ve heard of your victory over Perik, and I’m very pleased with the results. With Kamdon under my control, the only thing in the way of this blockade should be the desolate world of Asha. Stay there, for now, until we have assured control of all our objectives.”

The hologram flickered out. It took me a second to register the fact it’d ended.

A blockade? Why? We were in the middle of nowhere, what was so important? Kamdon, Asha… the only other planets close by were Korros and Mellin. If the first two and Mellin were captured, then Korros would be completely surrounded by separatist forces. Either that, or a large fleet positioned there to block off Korros. Either way, what the hell had gotten Separatists to run after these random little systems?

“Take them all in. Now!” Kalasi ordered. Her tone had gotten deeper and more serious than before. So whatever the disc meant was just this serious. Damn it, if the Republic could just know about it... “I need to know just how much these little bastards took from me. Before Dooku finds out.” 

“You wouldn’t be the first apprentice he’d betray, then.” I offered, mustering the last smile I still had in me out of pure spite.

Kalasi pressed a button on her wrist and the net’s threads lit up. Excruciating pain radiated through every cell in my body.

* * *

I don’t remember screaming, but the sore throat I discovered upon waking up said otherwise. As far as I knew, I was in a box just big enough to fit me sitting inside it, with small holes on the sides showing a poorly lit room. The ground rumbled beneath my feet, so we were probably being taken somewhere.

“Are you awake?” Came Maya’s distant voice. 

“We screwed it up, didn’t we?” I laughed after a deep sigh, lying down in my newfound cage. It’d probably be both my first and my last.

“ _You_ did. Are you even a Jedi? Who sent you here?”

“I’m a Padawan.” I confessed, “An apprentice. A bit too old for it too. Never managed to pass the tests, never got assigned to anything real. Does that answer your question?” Even though the words stung a little in my throat, I couldn’t deny my shoulders felt lighter. Still didn’t do much to shake off the uncomfortable blob of impending doom growing in my stomach

“Are you serious?” She barked, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I snuck out. Sorry. I just… Do you ever get the feeling that people look at you all wrong? They don’t _see_ you, they just see what they want to see - their own personal perfect version of you, savior of the galaxy, capable of doing no wrong!” I huffed as if the entire Jedi council was there to watch me ramble, “Well, what if I’m already perfect to me? What if this is all there is? What’s so wrong with that? I just wanted to prove I’m good just the way I am.”

To my surprise, Maya chuckled at my outburst. “You need _help_ , Rune.”

“Says the one about to be tortured.”

“And you’re not?”

“Touché.”

“I just hope I’m not the last.” She sighed.

“The last what?”

“Fighter. _Rebel_.” She corrected herself, “Perik is my home, but it’s like I’m the only one who thinks Kalasi shouldn’t have the right to just park her damn ship over our city and act like she owns it all. The rest of them hide like rats.”

“Maybe you’re just the only one crazy enough to actually do something about it. Not everyone has the guts to face a Sith lady and her militia without backup.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate J2S8. Hope they didn’t scrap him for his memory”

“Can he kill four guys at the same time? 

“You’ve never seen him with a blaster.”

As fun as it was to kill time with banter, my thoughts had only one road to follow and I knew what was at its end was unavoidable.

I swallowed, then put on a more serious tone. “Do you think it was worth it?” 

“For a second there, back at the bar, when Kalasi turned on the comms disc and saw just _what_ I’d stolen from her…” Maya snorted, “The look on her face was priceless. She was damn near about to piss herself. Yeah, it was worth it. Not to mention the other stuff I already got away with the other times. Battle plans, schematics… It’s all up on the holonet.” She clicked her tongue, “I just _had_ to go and get greedy with this one, because of course I did. Now no one will find out about whatever _that_ meant before it’s too late.”

“I may be able to help on that front, but we’d need to get out of here first.”

“We won’t.” Maya quickly shot back.

Needless to say, I didn’t feel like acknowledging that with a response. We rode the rest of the way to our prisons in silence, or as much silence as the ship’s rumbling allowed. At least it wasn’t long enough for one last bout of boredom before the big one.

Our boxes were loaded onto a speeder by a cargo droid without much care, and then carried another few minutes into a room with white walls and clear lighting. From the small holes in mine, I made out a dozen cells where the only window to the outside was a column of grate-like holes in the middle of each wall, not even wide enough for my arm. My box was pushed through a gate on the cell opposite to the one where Maya was going through just the same. As soon as the gate fell closed, our boxes bloomed open like flowers. 

I waited until the droid had left the room to speak up again. “Do you think they have room service?”

“It’s not funny anymore, Rune.” She replied, sounding smaller and more distant than ever before. I couldn’t even see her from my grates, which meant she was probably hiding beside hers.

“What changed? Did it finally hit you we’re not coming out of this one?”

“Do you _have_ to overcompensate for _everything?_ You said it yourself - you’re weak! When are you going to stop pretending you’re not and do something about it? Train! Practice! Study! Do something!”

“I think it’s a bit too late for that...” I chuckled through the bitter taste she’d left over my tongue.

“Then die in silence!”

“And if I don’t want to?”

There was no answer other than a sigh.

“Say, Maya?” I tried, allowing the little braver spite made me, “What would it take to get us out of these cells?”

I felt her hesitate, “They’re an SK-4 model. Keycard-encrypted. Why?”

“Cause we’re getting out.” I smirked. It was dumb, but for now, it was all I could do not to crumble on the inside. “I assume they took your knives?”

“Not all of them. They didn’t search my shoes, so I still have two. But my Zeltronian recall glove’s gone.”

“Yeah, see? That’s hope!” I exclaimed as that artificial determination balled my hands into fists. “If you manage to take out one of them, I can use the Force to bring their keycard up to our cell doors!”

“And the surveillance camera will pick it up. We’re still dead.”

A distant and faint tug of the Force told me said camera was located on one of the corners of the room. Away from both of us, but not from the Force.

“Got that covered, maybe. Can I trust you to take out at least one of them?” 

“Yeah.” She muttered, confident despite her solemn tone, “Easy.”

“Then we have a plan.” I grinned. I mean, what the hell right? It was either give up and wait for Kalasi to kill us or give her trouble, make her stress one last time. After so many years of angering even the most patient Jedi masters, why should _she_ get the satisfaction of offing me? Hardly seemed fair.

“While we wait, then.” She piped up in the same optimistic tone as before, “You at least owe me the story of why you came here.”

Well, crap. Might as well, right? It’s not like I’d ever tell the story if our plan failed.

“It was my master’s birthday. Master Tyfu Pangshi, you might’ve heard of him too. Normally we’re supposed to give gifts, but I may have… forgotten to get one.”

“You’re terrible.”

“Shut up, you asked. Anyway, we got into a fight and it was quite ugly to watch, even more to be a part of. I stormed off thinking…” I shrugged, even though she probably couldn’t see it, “I’ll show him who’s boss. I’ll steal something important to him from Darth Kalasi.”

“And how did that go, savior of the galaxy?” She asked in a snide tone. 

“You tell me, rebel fighter.” I smirked back.

During the half hour it took for someone to come check on us, I focused every last ounce of mindpower I had on encasing the security camera with the Force so that when the time came, I’d be ready without fail. Maya spent it in silence, though I hoped her spirits had lifted up enough for it not to become a problem.

Either way, when a soldier did enter the room, I grasped the camera with all I could and pulled down so the only thing it would see was the floor.

“Here to kill us, ey?” Maya jabbed as the set of steps approached us.

“Trust me, twenty minutes from now, you’ll wish.”

His shadow breached the holes in my wall as his form became visible, skinny and tall - a trandoshan in body armor coded with Kalasi’s emblem on the chest and shoulder pads. But just as he turned towards me, I heard a fast movement and his eyes suddenly went wide with shock before freezing static. As his body dropped forwards and slid off my cell wall.

“Your turn.” Maya crossed her arms and smiled behind her grates. 

Not intending to stare, I instead looked down to find a thin knife lodged into the back of the soldier’s head. “Any clue where that keycard could be?” I asked.

“How should I know?”

I sighed and closed my eyes to focus the force on his body, walking through his curves until I felt a rectangular object in one of his back pockets, at which point I yanked as hard as I could. The keycard flew into the air and then fell back down on top of him.

On the verge of a headache, I gripped my cramping arm and took a deep breath.

“C’mon,” Maya muttered, “Just a little more.”

She was right. I focused on the card again, this time with even less focus and strength than before, but enough to lift it inch by inch, trembling as it was, to the reader on my cell door.

The door descended into the floor a second after the reader’s ping of authentication as the card clattered back on top of his body.

“That’s it!” Maya cheered, “Now open mine!” 

Panting with fatigue on top of my muscles still being sore from earlier, I resorted to pushing aside the man’s body with my boots as I lifted the card to my hands, since crouching to pick it up came with the danger of failing to stand up again.

The first thing Maya did after I opened her cell was to pull out the knife from the back of the trandoshan’s head and then wipe the blood off of it with her shirt. “Nice job.” She chuckled.

“You too.” I returned, clearing my own forehead of sweat with the back of my hand.

“If we get to the main hall, I think I’ll know my way out.”

“What about our stuff? Or J2? Or the Holocron!” I protested.

“Rune, let’s be reasonable. They’re just things.” She stopped for a second, “And a droid.”

“I can’t lose my lightsabers! Besides, we’ll have a way better chance of getting out if we have actual weapons beyond just two knives. Doesn't J2 have a map in his drive too?”

“Fine, but if we get caught, it’s on you.” Maya huffed out of the sliding doors at the end of the room, where the hallway of cells gave way to a gray hexagonal corridor. To our luck, it was empty. 

“Where do they keep that kind of stuff?”

“In her collection room. It’s on the lowest floor, which we luckily are, based on our trip here from earlier.” She replied in a hushed voice, peeking into a side entrance before turning into it.

“You actually paid attention where we were going?” I whispered back, following close behind.

“You didn’t? Nice Jedi you are.”

“Cheap shot.”

After about five minutes of walking, and one too many close calls with soldier passerbys, we ended up facing a big door at the end of a corridor that seemed cleaner than most, and to my surprise, the room behind it was even more.

The walls were a perfect white, as were the long shelves that lined the room - the only glimpses of different colors other than the two of us were the organized collections of things on top of said shelves. Weapons, three Jedi lightsabers among them. Relics too, spelling out the chronology of Kalasi’s warpath in their growing scale, from simple pendants early on to eventually diamonds and even small shiny statues of alien races I didn’t recognize. In one of the top shelves, a Jedi Holocron.

“Sheesh.” I finally managed to say, moving to inspect the three lightsabers. Both of mine were among them, but before was one I didn’t recognize, a bit more sleek and elegant. I felt a strange pull looking at it, but only noticed it came from the Force itself once it was already in my hands.

“Whose is that?” Maya asked, walking back to me wearing her recall glove and another five knives strapped to her belt.

“I don’t know.” I replied, examining the lightsaber as if it’d tell me the answer, “I know Kalasi has killed Jedi before, but… damn, I don’t remember any of their names.”

“Have you ever paid attention in your life?”

I shrugged, “Well, every time one of them died my Master made me train twice as hard, so there was some resentment involved if I’m honest.”

“I know I’ve said this before, but you’re terrible.” She sighed, walking past me towards the exit, “Are you taking that one too?”

I turned to look at her, “I think so, but--”

My answer was cut short by the door opening by itself while Maya was still a few feet away. Behind it was the rugged soldier with the golden brown hair from earlier, looking meaner than ever as his eyes bulged with fury at the two of us.

Even worse - in his hands was the severed head of J2.

He took a single step into the room, letting the door close behind him, “‘I want to kill them myself’, she said.”

“Uh oh.” Maya began to step back towards me.

“I guess she’ll have to wait until I’m done.” He grit his teeth in anger and grabbed a large blaster off the walls, but we were running further into the room before he’d even finished speaking.

Scorch marks appeared on the wall ahead for each time he’d missed, each one adding to my shower of adrenaline. Just before the end, Maya jumped to the side but I decided to try my odds. What was a blaster against a lightsaber?

I ignited it at the same time I turned to him. The green saber shining between the two of us flashed hesitation across his face, but it didn’t take long for it to be washed away by anger as he pointed his blaster at my head.

“Seems like we’re at a standoff.” I blurted, unable to say silent through this much tension.

“I can’t wait to get you to look just like your friend here,” He grinned, nudging J2’s head tucked under his arm. 

“You’re gonna make me into a droid?” 

“Jokes won’t save you right now.” He retorted, but before I could respond, his grin shined with malice and he shot a few more times at me.

The first one caught the hilt of my lightsaber, the ensuing heat prompting me to drop it to the ground, and the way it made me flinch was enough for both of the other shots to narrowly miss my head.

Before he could shoot again, Maya dashed out from behind a shelf next to him, grabbed a golden statue and then promptly bashed it against the side of his head just as he was beginning to turn towards her. The man dropped to the floor without any other taunts.

“Get your lightsabers, we need to go.” Maya sighed, crossing her arms.

“Wait. The Holocron.” I suddenly remembered, moving through the shelves until I found the section that housed it, too high to reach.

“We don’t have time!” Maya exclaimed.

“Wait, wait, I just need to…” I swallowed, closing my eyes as my mind reached for the force. I lifted my hand and then let it wander, guided by the tug of an invisible current that pulsed to my every breath. When I opened my eyes, I had a Holocron in my hand. I offered a confident smile, “Let’s go.”

I took my lightsabers and strapped them to my waist, leaving the third one just a bit further along, almost at my back, while the Holocron sat in one of my trench coat’s pockets. I barely had the time to even look at the other things before we ran out of the room and klaxons began to scream from every direction. I couldn’t find the effort to quip, or even just comment.

Maya, meanwhile, focused all of her efforts on trying to find the way to the hangar, where our exit point was easily accessible. She took sharp turns and doubted every turn, but unsettlingly enough, there wasn’t anyone in any of them. It was like the ship had been evacuated and we were the only ones there, running from ghosts.

I only found out why once we did reach the hangar, wherein the walls closed behind us. Standing before us between starfighters was Darth Kalasi, and fifty other soldiers behind her.

My heart dropped, but I could only think about one thing.

“Sneak out of here. Through the boxes on the side.” I whispered to Maya. Behind my back, I withdrew the Holocron and passed it to her. “You remember the comms disc. Get out there, and contact the Republic. I’ll stall her out.”

She shook her head, “Rune--!”

“Please.” I cut in.

“Don’t die.” She sighed, placing the Holocron into her back pocket. 

I didn’t want to, but I didn’t see another way to get the information out.

My focus was on Kalasi as I mustered a confident expression, grabbing one lightsaber in each hand. “Ready for a second round?” I smirked.

“Have you forgotten how the first one went?” She smiled back, igniting her red lightsaber next to her.

“Nope.” I shot back, carefree. It was true I didn’t expect to win, not when her technique was so foreign to me, but I didn’t intend to. I just had to get Maya out, and for that, all she needed was time.

“Troops!” Her eyes were wide and energetic, and though she remained still, I saw her impulses threatening to take over in her twitching hands gripping the lightsaber next to her shoulder. “ _Hold_ your fire.” She chuckled before breaking into a sprint towards me.

I didn’t wait to do the same, lighting up both of mine in time to block her first strike as we met halfway. True to my expectations, another one followed, though my senses were on higher alert now that I knew to expect the unexpected and I’d raised both my sabers in the shape of an X before me to catch it. 

She pushed against it, both of us gritting our teeth as I fought not to give in. Though I knew now was the worst time to lose focus, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander back to Maya - to my relief, I couldn’t feel her behind me anymore. Kalasi had been so focused on killing me she hadn’t even noticed--

A sharp stroke pushed one of my sabers to the left, spinning it out of my hand and on to the floor. Before she could do the same to the other one, I gripped the rest of its hilt with my free hand and pushed back against her with my shoulder with my full weight.

There was only time to reset my stance, but fine. I’d studied Form I as well back in the day, even though I hadn’t practiced sparring with a single lightsaber in years.

“Are you sloppier?” Kalasi asked with a mild twinge of disappointment beneath the malicious joy, “You seem so. I expected a better fight.”

“Come and get it, then.” 

She didn’t hesitate to take my invitation. Though our blades clashed in the center of the room, our eyes had been connected from the start.

Right away, Kalasi employed the same strategy from the bar, striking at me with that calculated chaos only she seemed to comprehend. 

Even though I knew it was coming, the force inside her was a whirlpool, pulling me closer to the undertow with every mistake. I'd block her on one side, only to find her hand striking me at the other, either through the force or her bare strength; every opening for me was also one for her - more and more I found that true. Kalasi fought as if she was in a table of sabacc, going all in with every move in ways I simply couldn't match. In the end, it became her biggest advantage.

As she forced me to jump back with a parry, one of her legs locked its foot behind my ankle and I felt myself lose control of gravity, letting go of my lightsaber in fear. Before I could hit the ground, Kalasi's hand lunged towards mine and took hold, preventing the fall that had stopped my heart for a second.

The grin on her face was palpable, polished by mischief. I only found out why once she let go of me, when I found a small metallic sphere in my hand.

An EMP.

In less than a second, the time it took for my eyes to widen to the size of moons, the world exploded into light and static. I saw nothing, I heard nothing, and I felt nothing but my own body, helplessly stumbling back to avoid an attack I couldn't see coming.

The entire universe had been reduced to nothing but me. Well, me and…

Even though I couldn't see, I still closed my eyes to search deep within me for the one thing I knew I'd find. Without distractions or any of my senses, the Force responded to my call louder than I'd ever felt it.

And with it, Kalasi. Her presence was as clear as a black hole in the world of light the Force had given me.

Coming at me with her saber next to her, she wasn't just a Sith anymore. She was a storm of anger, surrounded by currents that bent around her shape like dark clouds hiding thunder in their billowing shapes. 

The extra lightsaber I'd taken from her collection was in my hands before she could even get to me.

This time, when we clashed, I felt her hesitation. Surprise. 

"Aren't you a box of wonders?" She smirked, but her voice sounded as though it'd been underwater.

I didn't answer, so her storm continued to move and she followed. Where it'd jab, she'd go, where it pulled back, she did as well. That was her secret - following the will of her anger, of the dark side within her. The very will who probably wanted me deader than ever. Two could play at that game.

In one fell swoop, her irrational logic became telegraphed. To her surprise, I started to answer her moves before they'd even come, my new lightsaber feeling as though it'd always been a part of me.

The first time I striked in the offense, latching onto every instinct the Force whispered, I could feel the tides had changed. As she'd never switched tactics, her tantalizing pull only worked to give me the edge I needed to fight back. To make _her_ fight back.

I might've never felt stronger, but I'd also never felt less alone. The guidance of the Force was unlike anything I'd ever felt, more than a sense, the way stars transcended the concept of fire. Call me crazy, there was a definite tug in my limbs, tiny pulls that were little more than signs and suggestions that more often than not ended up right.

When I finally made her stagger, then followed by pushing the Force toward her with all I had, the storm had shrank to a bare molten core inside of her.

As I opened my eyes and found her lying with her back down, the real world crashed back onto me. The slow, engine groan of the ship rumbled beneath my feet. The line of soldiers pointing rifles at my face exchanged whispers. More importantly, my whole body felt sore and doubly as heavy, but since Kalasi was in the process of pulling herself back up, I had other problems.

But as she stood to face me, greasy hair draped messily across one side of her face, a pair of metallic objects clinked to the floor behind her.

Two very recognizable knives.

"Ma'am--!" One of the soldiers piped up.

"Shut up!" She cut in, face distorted by rage, "Hold your damn fire. _I'll_ kill him. I have to. Dooku will be proud."

Without looking up, I tried to sense something with the Force. Though it wasn't as strong as before, I still got my answer.

Up on the distant ceiling, inside a ventilation hatch, was the unmistakable trace of Maya.

"Listen, I know we've only just met, but I think I gotta go." I grinned through heavy breaths, withdrawing the lightsaber back to my waist to pull the other two back to my hands.

Just as she charged, I threw every last ounce of energy I still mustered at the ground and leaped into the air, aided by the Force.

Above me, Maya smiled through the hatch, extending a hand towards my ascending figure. I just barely managed to take it, a lightsaber separating our palms. As she pulled me up to the platform she stood on, between the hangar and the outer hull, I looked down to see Kalasi jumping as well, halfway up the hangar with a look that could kill.

With a gleeful smile, Maya's free hand balled into a fist and I heard the faint noise of four buttons being pressed at once.

The knives that had clattered to the floor whizzed up behind Darth Kalasi, slashing two paths through the armor on her back. Both of us stepped back a second before they stuck pierced the ceiling, coated in the Sith’s blood, but not before we saw Kalasi's face freeze with shock as her body began to fall.

Maya swiped the knives back and sighed with a calm smile. "We should go."

"We should definitely go." I nodded. The shrieks of pain and anger coming from down below seemed to agree as well. "How did you get here?"

"They were all too focused on you." She shrugged, "Wasn't hard to sneak behind them and climb the wall."

"Well, I'm impressed."

"Thought you'd be used to it by now."

“Well, Kalasi’s not dead yet.” I shot back, arms crossed with a smug grin, “Seems like someone did a poor job”

“God, you are insufferable.” She chuckled, “You do remember that they’re coming after us, right?”

Oh yeah. That was happening. “Go on then, lead the way.”

Before she turned away, the smile on her face was infectious. There was hope in it, for once, kicking out the empty goals of revenge and profit. 

At the end of the corridor, Maya pulled open a hatch in the roof, bathing herself in sunlight. I grinned at her as she climbed the ladder to the top of the frigate. Once there, Maya fired a hookshot onto the closest roof, attached the other end to a piece of the frigate, and then we slid together down the rope, me using one of my lightsabers and her the heavy gloves on her hands, giggling the whole way down with one cheer of excitement or two.

As soon as our feet had touched the rough concrete floor, Maya cut the cord and then turned to grab me into a tight hug, jumping up and down as she giggled into my chest. I hugged her back without much hesitation. It was probably the first hug I’d ever really given.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t drive them off the city for good.” I muttered.

“You should go. Warn the Republic, do your thing. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure you’ll be safe?” I asked, pulling back to look at her with honest worry.

“Do you even know who you’re talking to? I can take care of myself.”

“Maya…” I sighed, letting go of her arms, “I promise I’ll come back. WIth help.”

Despite my words, and the weight in my stomach, the smile on her face never faded. “That master of yours,” She said, retrieving the Holocron from her pockets and placing it onto my hands, “I want to meet him. I want to get to know the one who has to put up with you full time.”

“You will.” I sighed, smiling back.

“Bye, Rune.” There was some sadness in her voice, but she turned her back to me before I could spot it in her face.

“Goodbye.” I swallowed, watching her jump off as the thrusters in her boots came to life and flew her to the rooftops below. Guilt festered like a fungus inside my chest for leaving her alone here, more than ever, and surely being the new public enemy number one. But I knew it wouldn't last long. I was coming back, and as soon as I could.

* * *

When my starship landed before the Coruscant Jedi Temple, a small crowd of republic troopers and temple guards had already gathered near the entrance, but only when I opened and stepped out of the cockpit did I spot the bald, green-skinned figure standing at the front - Master Pangshi.

Despite the crumply fold in my stomach, I kept my stance casual as I walked to the entrance, keeping constant eye contact with my master’s angry gaze, his arms crossed in front of his tunic. It even looked like he’d trimmed his mustache - or parts of it had fallen off in stress - as its thin white threads barely reached his chest now.

In true dramatic Pangshi fashion, he waited until I’d reached the top of the stairs to start his rambling. “ _Rune Haskell,_ you irresponsible--!” He scowled, though he cut himself short with a puff of air out his nostrils. “Troopers, go inside. I need to speak to young Rune in private.”

I pursed my lips in as they walked away, hands fidgeting awkwardly in front of me. This was probably far from over. “So, uh…” I stammered once we were alone, “I can explain.”

“Please do,” Pangshi nodded, dripping with annoyance. “Pray tell, where did you hide this time? You _fled_ in the middle of my birthday.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I swallowed.

“Rune, why did you run?” He sighed. “I’m your master. I need you to trust me.”

“Because of the way you looked at me!” I finally snapped, “Because I know you’re ashamed of me, and _obviously_ I don’t want you to be!”

“Rune…”

“I went to Kamdon.” I stated, more stern and serious than I’d ever been, “I made a friend, and we fought Darth Kalasi together and _won_.”

His expression broke like glass, eyes widening as his mouth searched for words, “K-Kamdon? Darth Kalasi?!”

I barely had to think to spill out everything I'd lived through the past day, as once I'd started, the events just domino'd themselves out of my mouth, sometimes out of order, sometimes so implausible I'd have to rectify myself with an excuse. By the end, Pangshi's anger had turned into a thoughtful expression.

"This may come as a surprise then,” Pangshi smiled earnestly, “But I’m proud of you, Rune. Where is the lightsaber you found?”

“This thing saved my damn life.” I chuckled, unlatching it from the back of my belt, “I don’t know if I’m going crazy or not, but I _swear_ it was almost guiding me through the fight.” I handed it to him, but as soon as his gaze had caught sight of the hilt, it froze in wide shock.

“Rune…” He muttered, holding it before his face. “Do you know what you have?’

“...A lightsaber?” I tried.

“Master Ress’s lightsaber. My _master’s_ lightsaber.” He pressed the metal against his chest, closed his eyes and then took a deep breath. When they reopened, he looked more serene than I’d ever seen him.

“Your… master?” I hesitated, “How did Kalasi have it?”

“She was killed in action a month ago by Kalasi’s forces.” He smiled, despite the somber tone, “I thought I’d never see it again. Thank you for reuniting us, young Rune.”

“I-I had no idea. Do you think it was her? Guiding me?”

“What I _think_.” Pangshi mustered a coy smile that looked foreign on him as he returned the lightsaber to my hands. “Is that it has found a new owner. You’ve earned it.”

A faint glow grew inside my chest, bringing with it a feeling of weightlessness. “Really? But it’s not mine! I already have two!”

“You’ve made me proud.” He nodded, “And I’m sure she would’ve been as well. From what you told me, you have a better synergy with this one than you ever had with your old lightsabers.” Turning his back, he faced the inside of the temple, “Now, I believe you have quite the story to tell the Jedi Council, no? Not to mention the Holocron you’ve got to return. Come on, then.”

“The Jedi Council? What?” I asked, catching up to him as he moved inside.

“Your friend Maya is waiting, no? We need authorization to return to her first.”

A grin grew on my face, “We’re going back for her?”

“A Jedi _Knight_ never breaks their promises.” He winked.


End file.
